Published in 1896, A Child of the Jago is a gritty and realistic portrayal of life in the slums of London's East End during the late 19th century. The novel is set in an area known as the Old Jago (based on a real-life slum called the Old Nichol) and vividly describes the poverty, crime and squalor that characterised the impoverished neighbourhood. The story revolves around Dicky Perrott, a young boy growing up in the Jago, and his struggle for survival in a world of gangs, violence and despair. A Child of the Jago is considered a significant work of social realism, depicting the harshness of urban poverty and offering a stark critique of the societal structures that perpetuate it.
Nicholas Boulton brings this bleakly energetic 1896 novel to life with intelligence. Set in the worst of the London slums, it focuses on the ill-starred Perrott family, especially the boy Dicky, but includes many other neighborhood characters. Boulton moves easily among all of them, fluently altering voices, accents, ages, and genders as if he's a one-man full cast. His deep, slightly rough narrat
